VILNIUS -- Georgia and Moldova have initialed their respective Association Agreements with the European Union ahead of the start of an EU Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius.

The process leaves one page to be ceremonially initialed during the second day of summit proceedings in the Lithuanian capital before more work that allows actual signings months or years down the road.

None of the other four so-called Eastern Partnership countries -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Ukraine -- is expected to initial deals in Vilnius.

Georgian First Deputy Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, who is leading his country's delegation in Vilnius, told RFE/RL that the initialing of the some 1,000-page document means it is already an irrevocable agreement.

Ukraine last week turned its attention toward Russia and upended negotiations with the European Union, putting a damper on the widely awaited summit and extending a Moscow-backed chill between some post-Soviet states and Brussels. Kyiv's move sparked street protests by pro-European Ukrainians who view with distrust President Viktor Yanukovych's moves to ally their country more closely with Russia.